Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act

The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act was an act implementing protectionist trade policies sponsored by US Senator Reed Smoot and Representative Willis C. Hawley. The law, backed by the majority of Republican Party (including President Herbert Hoover), was signed into law on 17 June 1930, raising US tariffs on over 20,000 imported goods. The act was designed to decrease foreign competition during the Great Depression, during which American farmers were severely impacted by the financial crash. The act and the following retaliatory tariffs by America's trading partners exacerbated the Depression, reducing American imports and exports by more than half.